Well, if you’re sitting comfortably boys and girls then let’s begin this review of A Chuckle Christmas.

It was a cold night in York, but this delightful show thrilled and enchanted the young audience who had come to laugh at slapstick, sing-a-long with seasonal show stoppers, and groan at the spirits of jokes past.

Panto in all but name, this adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol was so loose the wheels appeared to fall off more than once, but the suspicion is the faulty props and dodgy ad libs are all part of the act, and the time-served traditional double-act understanding that exists between Paul and Barry (and from Barry to Paul, of course) marks them out as genuine children’s entertainers.

They draw on Ken Dodd, Abbott and Costello and even WC Fields’ routines (whether they know it or not) and the show has variety and contrast that keeps the kids entertained throughout.

While Dickens himself would have recognised some of the jokes as being a little dated, that in no way detracted from the nice, warm, comfortable feeling of frivolity that warmed the Grand Opera House to a positive glow.

Criticism would be crass because it would insult the innocent audience the material is aimed at, and just because we’ve seen an episode of Dad’s Army dozens of times doesn’t make it less funny the next time around.

So don’t loose sight of the fact that this is for the kids, and they lapped it up.